"In this Tour I am finally a rider again" - Wout van Aert slowly building up good form

Wout van Aert is slowly rising in form throughout the Tour de France and is on a level superior to that of when he started the race. He has the Olympic Games in sight and tells how he feels like a rider again after battling for stage wins over the past weeks, including stage 18 where he was in the breakaway and attempting to succeed in what is his final realistic opportunity.

"Dwars door Vlaanderen was of course a tough day this year. A day that changed a lot. But in this Tour I am finally a rider again," van Aert shared in words to Sporza. "Just being able to make your mark again and starting with a plan, that ensures that you can forget about that fall. That doesn't really bring up a bad feeling either." At the time he fractured his sternum, several ribs and a collarbone. It took him out of the cobbled monuments, Giro d'Italia and completely overthrew his initial plan towards the Olympics - as the likes of Julian Alaphilippe, Filippo Ganna and Joshua Tarling are doing, away from the Tour de France.

On stage 18 Visma had van Aert and Bart Lemmen in the breakaway of 36 riders but wasn't able to control it on a day that favoured attackers all around. He sprinted to ninth on the day, winning the sprint in the large chasing group. "I experience less stress than I sometimes have in the past. For example, you shouldn't underestimate the hunt for the green jersey. Now I'm a lot further away from the attention. I haven't had to pass the podium yet. In that respect, I'm experiencing a much calmer Tour," he explains. "And because of my inactivity, I've learned to appreciate how much fun it is to just race and to be part of it again. Maybe that calms me down."

"I would like to be even better, but I always want that. Maybe I'm on my way to the form of my life. Who knows, it might even be closer than I think," he argues. Last year he came out of the Tour in brilliant form, but so did Mathieu van der Poel - who is currently on par with the Belgian. "But you absolutely can't compare this to my legs from the 2022 Tour. I'm now looking forward to the Olympic Games. I ride my best time trials when I come from a Grand Tour. In the road race, I'm also much more of an underdog than usual".